Chapter 278: Top Hundred!

Yao Jiamu and the others left once Gu Xiqiao was done talking to them.

The was still two hours before the selections started, and taking advantage of this time, she went home to grab Jiji’s body before heading over to Nine Heavens and the laboratories to settle things there.

Although the time was short, it was enough for her to settle everything. But she didn’t expect to bump into Chu Ziheng when she passed by a milk tea shop to buy a drink.

“President Gu.” The secretary opened the car door, revealing Chu Ziheng sitting in the backseat. “Do you have some time for a chat?”

Gu Xiqiao stabbed the straw into the milk tea in her hand, giving him a glance. “Sorry, I don’t have the time.”

Chu Ziheng smiled. “I hear that President Gu doesn’t have a hands on approach with Nine Heavens. How can you be so assured to leave the operations of Nine Heavens to someone else to handle? The collaboration I discussed with Mr. Mu today involved billions of dollars in funds.”

“Don’t doubt your employees.” Gu Xiqiao wanted to turn around and leave, but she couldn’t stop herself from pausing when she heard his words, leveling her gaze at Chu Ziheng.

“You must always have doubts in this world.” Chu Ziheng shook his head. “You can’t even fully trust someone who’s closest to you.”

“Your heart is too dark,” Gu Xiqiao muttered quietly, turning away and leaving.

Chu Ziheng watched her leave with no hesitation in her body, and couldn’t help but step out of the car, saying, “What if they really do betray you?”

“They won’t,” Gu Xiqiao replied without turning around. Even if there was a betrayal, she had the ability to make them regret their life. Since she created Nine Heavens, it was natural that she would be able to destroy it and just create another one. It was just a matter of time wasted.

After Gu Xiqiao had left, Chu Ziheng stood in the spot silently for a long while before turning back to get into the car. There was a middle-aged man sitting in the passenger seat, Gu Xiqiao had not seen him.

Chu Ziheng looked at the man, saying softly, “She really does trust you a lot.”

Saying that, the man blinked, slowly awakening. His eyes looked lost for a moment, before snapping to attention. “Ah, I’m very sorry, President Chu. I must have been more tired than I thought after reading the contract late into the night.”

“It’s fine, Mr. Mu.” Chu Ziheng smiled faintly.

Mu Zong let out a sigh of relief, then he took out his phone to send Gu Xiqiao a message. After he was done, he sat straighter, wanting to make sure he didn’t let himself fall asleep again.

***

Gu Xiqiao had turned into an empty alley, pulling her little pink car out. Before she could open her door, she saw the message that Mu Zong sent.

Mu Zong: Miss Gu, the company car is not really good quality. I only used it a few times, and it broke down already.

Her fingers hovered over the screen, wanting to send a reply. Just as she touched the keys, her head snapped up.

There was a green-clothed man sitting on top of her little pink car, looking at her with a pair of eyes that were as deep as an abyss.

Gu Xiqiao opened the hood of her car, placing the milk tea in the cupholder. She crossed her arms after, lifting her chin to look at the man with narrowed eyes. The cold in her eyes was chilling, and she was silent.

He had almost taken her life yesterday after all, and Dubhe hadn’t expected to see her again. She wasn’t showing any fear towards him, in fact her eyes were all too clear as they stared at him. He was finally the one to give in first, as he asked, “Outsider, who was that person?”

She had only bumped into Chu Ziheng on the way here, so Gu Xiqiao knew it must be about the man then.

“Aren’t you Dubhe?” Gu Xiqiao said instead, an indifferent look at him. “Find out yourself.”

She got into the car, adjusting her drink. Then she slammed on the accelerator, and the car shot off. Dubhe was caught off guard, and he slipped to the ground.

When he raised his head again, he could only see the back of the car in the distance.

Dubhe got up, his face dark. His ink hair was slightly messed up, and his robes bunched. With just a thought, the dust on his body vanished, and everything was clean and neat again.

***

After Gu Xiqiao went back, she sent an email to both Zhu Yuan and Mu Zong. She then placed Jiji’s body in her inventory, along with a big pot and some spices from the kitchen.

So when Mrs. Zhang came home from shopping, it was to a kitchen that looked like it had been ransacked. It was quite… messy.

The venue of the qualifying matches had to be reached through a teleportation array in the ancient martial arts world.

Gu Xiqiao and the others were teleported to a dense forest, it was packed with people with all kinds of people. Because the location of the teleport was random, they had been mingled together with a bunch of foreigners. The forest seemed to be endless stretched out, and the entire place was enveloped in formations and arrays. A large stone tablet was erected outside the forest, and it was black in color.

Gu Xiqiao had seen the ranking cup that was outside the Trial Tower, it was made from the same material.

Wu Hongwen looked at the forest, and felt like it was oozing something. “What is this place? Why is there just a big bead instead of the sun? How can there be such a big forest that can’t be seen on the world map?”

Xiao Yun and Yao Jiamu nodded their heads at his words. “Yeah, we’ve never seen it before.”

“Because this… is cyberspace.” Gu Xiqiao said in a low voice.

“Cyberspace?” Yao Jiamu frowned. “Why haven’t I heard of it before?”

Gu Xiqiao shook her head. “We’ll talk about this later.”

Yao Jiamu looked at the white-bearded old man standing on the platform, so he nodded and didn’t press further.

The old man on the platform was talking about the rules of the qualifying matches. “There are 196 countries participating in the selections this year, and the total number of participants are eighty thousand, which is double the number it was three years ago. However, only one hundred people will be permitted to enter the selections. The rules are simple, you have to enter this Bahuang Forest. There are various mythical beasts in the forest, and the closer you are to the center, the more powerful they are. You all have your identity tokens with you. Every time you kill a beast, its energy will automatically accumulate in your tokens. This ranking tablet will show the top one hundred. Of course, if you kill another person, then the energy accumulated in their tokens will become yours. Hence, you not only face the dangerous mythical beast, but you also have opponents and companions who stand beside you as threats. The Bahuang Forest is a dangerous place, and if at any time you are in danger and feel like quitting, you just need to shout that you give up and someone will come and bring you out. Dangers are also accompanied by opportunities…”

“We need at least five people to get in, we only have four.” Xiao Yun looked at Gu Xiqiao. “What do we do?”

“Tang Qinghong and the others have gone back to the Tang family’s team.” Gu Xiqiao squinted her eyes. “Just pull a random single person later, and then we’ll think about what comes after we’ve gotten in.”

Wu Hongwen patted Xiao Yun’s shoulders, smiling brightly at her. “Don’t worry, are you afraid that we won’t make it in? Such an interesting fun place, it’ll be a pity if we couldn’t get in.”

Xiao Yun rolled her eyes at him, and didn’t bother replying to him. However, her eyes clearly read ‘idiot’.

Wu Hongwen really wanted to beat the sh*t out of her at this moment.

“As long as you get a placement within the top hundred, you will obtain resources that are unimaginable, and the status of your family in the power world will also rise as your own status changes. I believe that your predecessors have said that as long as you successfully advance to the top ten, you will be able to obtain the secrets of ancient power. Good luck, my children.”

The eighty thousand participants were heating up after the white-bearded old man finished his speech.

Gu Xiqiao merely rubbed her chin as she watched the people beside her talking.

“That’s right, I heard that the little demon girl from China’s ancient martial arts world has reached the 62nd floor in the Trial Tower. She was only on the 49th floor three years ago, and now, Tang Qinghong is on the 50th floor, while she’s already on the 62nd!”

“I heard that the little demon girl is a girl, that’s so awesome!”

“Our Cecily from America is also a girl, she not only qualified for the selections for the Youth Ranking competition, she also got one of the top ten spots! She’s definitely not any less than the little demon girl!”

A black-haired teenager with a pair of black, coal eyes had both hands clasped together as he said, “They’re all great. I don’t have such great ambitions, I just want to get into the top hundred and get some resources for my family so that we won’t be bullied anymore!”

“I wonder how many more talents will come out from China’s ancient martial arts world.”

“There shouldn’t be any more than those few, I’ve never heard of any others either. And those that we mentioned have already reached the age where they can participate in the Heavens and Earth Ranking instead, so they shouldn’t be fighting with us on placement here.”

Hearing their discussion, a blonde girl stood up with a bright smile. “You don’t know about it, but there are four people in the entire power world that have the strength to compete for first place. Tang Qinghong from China’s ancient martial arts world, Yan Qi from England’s supernatural world, Cecil from America, Felix from Latvia, and Nozawa from Japan. Their strength is unfathomable, and there is only one thing to do if you meet them in here. Run away.”

At the same time, a tall man appeared on the platform. His expression was so very cold, and his facial features were sharp and elegant. There was a strange talisman in his slender hands.

The moment he appeared, the noise from the eighty thousand participants suddenly vanished, and it was dead silent. You could hear a pin drop.

All their eyes were on him.

Gu Xiqiao also turned to look, slightly stunned when she caught sight of the man. The figure on the high platform seemed to look in her direction, his deep, onyx eyes on her. When he saw her, his gaze lingered for a while before he turned away. His cold voice could be heard in every corner of the area. “I am the captain for the escort team in this year’s selections. Now, I will open the entrance to the Bahuang Forest.”

“Er Qiao, it’s Big Brother Jiang.” Xiao Yun continually slapped Gu Xiqiao’s arm, making the latter blink at the former. “Did you see!”

“Yes, I did.” Gu Xiqiao glanced at the girl, then turned her eyes back to the platform.

The people around her had also recovered.

The blonde girl exclaimed, “It’s him! It’s actually him! No, wait. How can he be in charge of such trivial matters such as the selections? And also being captain of the guards?”

“Do you know him?” Some of the people around were asking curiously. “Who is he? He looks like a Chinese, and his strength is decent.”

“Yes.” The blonde girl took a deep breath, her eyes still staring at the man who was talking. “He’s from China’s ancient martial arts world. As for his strength, he’s the top in China, what were you saying about it again?”

Shock appeared on all the faces around her when she said that, and it was a long time before any of them came back to their sense.

One of them swallowed heavily, disbelieving in his voice as he said, “The…the top person in the entire ancient martial arts world?”

“That’s right.” The blonde girl nodded confidently. “Although I didn’t participate in the qualifying matches last year, I watched it and remember it crystal clear.”

The number one person in the ancient martial arts world! He could be comparable to the ancient powers, and people like that little demon girl?

They already had such an insurmountable gap between them and the little demon girl, how could they even begin to compare to the number one person in the ancient martial arts world?

“The entrance to Bahuang Forest has been opened, let’s go in.” As soon as the girl said that, the voices finally faded off as they started to queue up.

Gu Xiqiao and her group of four also held their own identity tokens as they joined the line.

“There are more than eighty thousand people, and only one hundred will be selected. This rate of elimination…” Wu Hongwen pondered over the rules of the selections, and he couldn’t help but exclaim, “It’s really too terrifying!”

“These eight thousand people are also all elites from various power worlds, and they’re picking a hundred. There are almost 200 countries participating, so that means it’s possible that there will be countries where not a single person will be able to advance. No wonder they say as long as you can advance, you’d get resources and statuses.” Yao Jiamu nodded his head.

 There was also a sense of pride and fighting spirit that surged up in his heart when he thought about it.

Elites from almost the entire world were gathered here right now, and those who could achieve the top hundred placements were definitely the cream of the crop among all the geniuses! You could also obtain endless resources if you qualified!

At the same time, it was also indefinitely cruel!

The elimination rate was basically above 100%… among eighty thousand people, only a hundred would succeed in advancing!

In this hundred people, excluding the five who were contending for first place, there were only 95 places left!